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Archive for the ‘Policy’ Category

Terry O’Sullivan became the tenth General President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) on January 1, 2000, and is dedicated to growing his union’s membership and market share.

“I think the American public is willing, ready, and able to have that conversation. It’s been too many in Washington DC that have been licking their fingers and seeing which way the winds are blowing, that have been afraid to have that conversation.”

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, urges his colleagues to pass a long-term transportation bill to fund our nation’s highways, roads, and bridges and provide certainty to Americans whose jobs rely on a reauthorization.

Geoffrey Anderson is the President and CEO of Smart Growth America. Named by Partners for Livable Communities as “One of the 100 Most Influential Leaders in Sustainable Community Planning and Development,” Geoff came to his current position after eight years heading the Smart Growth Program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“It is amazing to see what local governments and states have done, and how much they have responded. Some of that is amazing in terms of their pro-activeness, and then some is less amazing because it’s become so desperate that they really had to do something, and unlike Congress, they didn’t have the luxury of kicking the issue off another two years without thinking about the longer term.”

NATIONAL CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION
Against the backdrop of continuing uncertainty around Congressional passage of a new federal transportation bill, a number of proposals have been circulated in the past year to address aspects of securing or reforming state and federal transportation funding. This white paper assembles the most prominent of these proposals and reviews them in the context of sustainable transportation, in particular, these three dimensions: funding sustainability, environmental sustainability, and social justice.

UNITED STATES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
As Congress gears up to debate reauthorization of surface transportation programs, this report is intended to call attention to a significant emerging threat to addressing the aforementioned transportation challenges: the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) forthcoming ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). This report analyzes the impact of these regulations on transportation projects, with a focus on the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Innovation Newsbriefs
Vol. 26, No. 6
Trust Fund spending could be curtailed by progressively shifting funding responsibilities for local transportation to the States and localities and limiting Trust Fund expenditures to projects and programs that represent core federal responsibilities or are of truly strategic or national significance.

AMERICAN ROAD & TRANSPORTATION BUILDERS ASSOCIATION (ARTBA)
Based on these findings, it is projected that a 15 cents-per-gallon gas tax increase at the federal level would likely result in a 5.9 cents-per-gallon increase in the pump price the week of enactment plus an additional 2.4 cents-per-gallon within four weeks of enactment. Thereafter, it would be a relatively insignificant pricing factor. In fact, the impact of a 15 cent increase in the federal gas tax would likely be “lost” in the week-to-week price fluctuation that has occurred at the gas pump for the last 10 years.

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
…with its current revenue sources, the Highway Trust Fund cannot support spending at the current rate. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that spending in fiscal year 2015 for highways and transit programs funded from the Highway Trust Fund will be $44 billion and $8 billion, respectively, whereas revenues collected for those purposes are projected to be $34 billion and $5 billion, respectively. By CBO’s estimate, at the end of fiscal year 2015, the balance in the trust fund’s highway account will fall to about $2 billion and the balance in its transit account will be about $1 billion.

Phineas Baxandall is a Senior Policy Analyst at U.S. PIRG and directs program on tax and budget issues as well as transportation. He often presents at conferences and has given invited testimony and public comment to state legislatures, Congress, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. His blogs appear on the National Journal Transportation Expert blog, Huffington Post and StreetsBlog. At U.S. PIRG, he has authored or co-authored dozens of reports, including a series examining the end of America’s driving boom, a series on infrastructure privatization, and a series on state government spending transparency.

Hear Senator Inhofe’s insights on the federal government’s role in infrastructure as outlined in the U.S. Constitution in the latest episode of ASCE’s Interchange video series. Gain insight on the importance of a long-term surface transportation bill, and find out what ASCE members and the public can do to help advance this important cause.

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